About the IADS President

During the 64th General Assembly of the International Association of Department Stores (IADS) held in London on November 8, 2023, the IADS members elected their Executive Committee for the new term, including their first female president since the inception of the Association in 1928. Ms Kamshim Lau, Executive Director of Lifestyle International Holdings Limited (which operates SOGO department store in Hong Kong, HKSAR), was unanimously appointed President of the Association during its last General Assembly. Lifestyle International Holdings Limited has been a member of the IADS since 2013 and this election marked its 10th year of membership. 

Ms Lau, 36, has held the position of Executive Director at Lifestyle International Holdings Limited since 2016. Ms Lau has served as Vice-President of the IADS for two consecutive terms, demonstrating her strong partnership with Mr Holger Blecker, the CEO of Breuninger GmbH & Co (Germany) and the exiting President of the IADS. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association (HKRMA) and a member of the Retail & Tourism Committee within the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Lau holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from King's College London and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in New York.

This is the first time that a representative from Lifestyle International Holdings Limited is appointed President, and the second time that an Asian IADS member has held this position, after Mr Ji Xiao’an, the chairman of the board of the Beijing Hualian Group (which operates SKP department stores in China), who took the leadership role from 2015 to 2017.

Ms Lau’s role will be to challenge even more the Association in a highly energetic context. Together with the renewed Executive Committee, her vision and expertise will allow the Association to remain the only expert department store body in the world, a role that IADS has played continuously since 1928.